


A Stolen Scene

by ThatSanguineYouth



Category: Trapeze (1956)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 09:09:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7634416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatSanguineYouth/pseuds/ThatSanguineYouth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This could exist anywhere between Tino's first trip up into the rigging and Lola's interjection into the act. Tino doesn't know where he stands with Mike and Mike doesn't know how long Tino will stick around. They find a rare chance at privacy and seeing if they can make their hearts beat in time. Fluff and porn with no real plot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Stolen Scene

Not far from Paris in a Florence museum, there’s a marble statue of what’s been described as the perfect man – The David.

But for the people who couldn’t make the train fare or want their David in between roaring lions and dancing bears then they come to the Cirque d’Hiver to stare wide-eyed and open-mouthed at Mike Ribble soaring above them like David on Icarus’ wings.

Tino Orsini remembers when he was just one of those gawkers. Tino was over the moon when Mike spoke to him the first time. The first time those strong, rough hands wrapped around Tino’s wrists a shock of electricity went through his entire body and Tino was truly flying.

Each attempt was little more perfect than the last. Mike talked to him the entire time. His voice was like a metronome, slow, even, and keeping their time as they reached for each other across the void.

“You’ll be ready as soon as you want to make leap, Tino.” Mike called as Tino released his tired and sore hands from his perch and tumbled to the net below.

Being always graceful, Mike twisted down to the net, slipping down a length of rigging like it was tentacle gingerly lowering him to join Tino. When he reached the net Mike tumbled toward Tino until he was lying beside him.

“Let me see that hand.”

“It’s fine, Mike. They’re just not used to this much work.”

“They’ll get used to it. You’ve still got more time to put in.”

“Not tonight?”

“No, not tonight. Go get cleaned up, you’re beginning to spoil.”

Mike grinned and then when Tino grew closer his face wrinkled, feigning disgust.

Tino gave Mike a shove but didn’t move away quick enough because Mike had his wrists and pulled Tino with him to lying back on the net. Tino spread himself over Mike letting out an exhausted sigh.

“You’re not any sweeter, you know?”

“Then why are you still here?” That grin that usually held a bit of a snarl was now a snarl concealing a playful grin. In motions nearly too swift for Tino to detect, Mike’s hands found purchase underneath him, lifted and tossed Tino far enough away so that he had to scramble to his feet to regain the distance.

Tino rolled in Mike’s direction, draping his arms and legs over him as soon as Mike was in reach.

“Because I’m going to draw every secret out of you, every trick of this trade, because I want to be worthy of these hands catching me.”

The sincerity in the kid’s eyes made Mike want to crawl his way out of there as fast as possible for the nearest drink.

“We’re rehearsing, aren’t we? You don’t need to keep buttering me up, you’re in the act, kid.”

Mike was out of practice at letting someone down easy and even rustier at accepting kind words.

Tino looked like he’d been gut-punched.

“You’re right. These costumes are getting a little pungent.”

Tino scurried to the end of the net, tucking and rolling off, and running in the direction of the dressing rooms.

“Damn it!” Mike cursed under his breath, striking the net as he lay flat on his back staring up at the rigging. There was no point in feeling this way about the kid, Mike thought, besides it’s not like he came in here begging for you to teach him, pleading for you to take him on. No, it wasn’t like that at all, it was exactly what Tino had done.

Mike felt foolish limping along after that sweet, beautiful boy yet he kept in the direction of the shower and dressing room, both right out there in the open where anyone could have a look, if they dared.

Though folk like Rosa needed a place to rinse off and powder themselves sweet again and not smelling of horse or bear. Just off the ringmaster’s quarters was a private shower, now long emptied by Rosa but keeping an ear out for anyone else would be the difference between bliss and their skin being used for new rigging cords.

Tino was still in the dressing room, hunting for a rag and bit of soap that he’d sworn he’d laid around here somewhere. He’d taken off all of that second-skin of a costume and had a towel slung around his hips. Mike stood their staring. He’d spent hours look this kid over and each time he was prettier than the last, those dark lashes crowning dewy eyes that sparkled like he was laughing or maybe about to cry, Mike sometimes questioned which it really was.

Tino had heard Mike creaking the floorboards but chose to ignore him.

“I’ll be out of your way, I just can’t find-“

Tino was stopped short when his partner’s strong, rough hand slid across his bare stomach and turned him to face Mike, “That’s the thing, kid,” Mike’s voice was quiet enough so that Tino had to draw in just to hear him; rough, low, and serious, “if you’re going to make that move, if we’re going to be a hit, you’re never in my way.”

Tino rolled his eyes and prepared to shove Mike away again. That voice was doing things to his stomach that not even heights or facing the deepest ocean did to Tino’s stomach. Mike this close, that hand still tightly at Tino’s waist was a wire-thin line between fear and passion. He wanted Mike – well, he’d say more than he let on, but that was exactly it, he felt just the way he let on and he’d follow him around like a pup until he’d been trained.

“I get it, Mike.”

“No,” Mike’s free hand came firmly to the scruff on Tino’s neck but it wasn’t a threat, “I don’t think you do. What’s part of you can never be in your way.”

Mike had not forgotten just how exposed their dressing room was and so after a quick look over his shoulder, he pressed his forehead to Tino’s and whispered, “I know where we can find some hot water and a door – that locks.”

The look on Mike’s face had Tino ready to fall to his knees then and there.

Tino could barely breathe let alone find the words to accept. Tino nodded and followed sneakily behind Mike as they cut deeper into the halls and corridors around the ring. Mike reached for Tino and Tino’s hand was in his without even needing to ask, with one ear pressed to the door at the end of what felt like the longest and darkest hallway they’d come down. It had occurred to Tino that undertaking this caper in nothing but a towel could end very poorly but really, he could trust Mike with his life, why not to find an unoccupied room?

After a moment of quiet, Mike clicked the latch and shouldered the door open with a shove. The room was empty.

“Are you crazy?” Tino stepped into Mike, making to get back out the door the same way he’d come in.

“And tired,” There was that hand at the back of Tino’s neck.

“Laying down in the ringmaster’s quarters is not the way to catch some rest, Mike.”

“And covered in sweat from our day,” Mike’s breath was humid against Tino’s already sweat-sheened skin.

When Mike nipped at Tino’s ear, he smiled satisfied when the boy squirmed against him and he could feel the towel slide to the floor between them, and nothing but that expanse of lean, strong muscle and flesh pressed against Mike.

Tino groaned but didn’t try to cover himself.

“This isn’t fair,” Tino murmured as Mike’s lips found their way to his, “how are you going to shower with that on?”

The thin silver costume was discarded along with Mike’s pants and t-shirt that he’d slipped on after their rehearsal. Tino was sure that Mike had caught him staring long before this but Tino still took a moment to look over his partner, strength just rippling under his skin but he was light and quick for someone who nearly stood a whole head taller than Tino and, of course, despite the accident.

Tino felt like he’d lost his senses. He couldn’t remember who had moved first, who had set things in motion but he remembered every kiss and each time Mike hungrily grabbed for him.

Tino could feel the warm water running over their bodies but he couldn’t begin to tell you how Mike was making him feel this way, how he kept him at the brink with kisses and those rough hands holding him like he was his one and only tether between the other man and an endless plummet.

When Tino lay his head back against the shower wall, mouth open, a moan about to cross his lips as Mike’s fingers tempted and teased bits of flesh Tino had no idea could feel this good. Suddenly, Mike’s hand came to Tino’s mouth, covering it, as Mike’s other hand went to quickly turning off the water.

There were two voices passing by the corridor, just outside the locked door of this stolen bedroom.

The threat of being caught and the loss of the warm water had Tino shivering against Mike.

“Let’s get you dried off, kid.”

Mike stepped from the shower like maybe it had all been a dream. Yet the ache in Tino’s stomach and the burning insistence of his arousal proved that he’d not imagined it.

“Mike?”

Mike gathered Tino up into his arms but stumbled backward when he shifted onto his weaker leg. Thankfully the boss’s bed was soft and with this young man on top of him Mike wasn’t feeling any pain.

Tino sat astride Mike, picking up one of Mike’s hands as he began to kiss each fingertip in turn, “I’ve never trusted a pair of hands more than these, not even the hands of my mother was I ever more sure of.”

“Tino…”

Mike shook his head and was going to look away from Tino when the kisses to the tips of his digits turned to a slow slide past Tino’s lips only to be slickened and caressed by that skillful tongue. Mike leaned up to meet him and as the pair of digits slid from Tino’s lips, Mike caught his mouth in another searing kiss.

Mike kissed him until Tino felt like he was going to run out of breath. He felt Mike sharing breath with him and what began as a soft exhale of surrender turned into a moan – what would have been a scream if their lips had not been so tightly sealed – as Mike sunk those two, spit-slicked digits inside of him.

Tino broke the kiss only to sink his teeth into Mike’s shoulder.

“So sweet, so good,” Mike whispered against Tino’s cheek, “but I knew you were going to be trouble.”

Mike set a slow and even slide from Tino’s body, pausing to add some oil to his fingers, and then continuing as he spread and teased his young partner.

Mike’s hips shot up instinctively when Tino ground down against him but the feeling slid into frustration and pain when he realized he was not going to have Tino the way he wanted him. He wouldn’t be pinning him to this, or any mattress, and sinking into him only to ravage him when Tino was finally tearing at these borrowed sheets and begging him.

Mike was ready to pull away. The reality of his limits and the thought of this kid finally understanding that was enough to rip him right from the moment.

“Please Mike, please,” There was that soft, pleading voice and those big eyes tearing up with need. Tino was in his own world and he still thought Mike was teasing him, not preparing to leave.

Mike laid back, bringing Tino down with him for another kiss and Mike clung to him for dear life.

“Will you let me? Do you trust me?”

It wasn’t demanding, Tino’s voice was worshipful. He kissed along the freckles that dotted those perfect, strong shoulders before daring to look Mike in the eyes.

Again, it wasn’t clear who moved first or what pushed their momentum into action but in an instant, Mike’s hands were at Tino’s hips as the young man guided himself down, taking Mike’s entire length inside of him. It took all of his resolve not to cry out especially when Tino began that hesitant but needy rise and fall on his arousal as it thrummed for release inside of the boy.

Mike would have taken all of the time in the world to explore and play along the lines of this boy in his lap but he also knew that the threat of being found out also loomed just outside the door.

“Tino,” He moaned against the younger man’s ear, bringing his hands to hold the younger man on his arousal, keeping his hips still but taking the young man’s weight in his hands only to move him at an even greater pace atop him. “We can’t-“ Mike was cut short to stifle a moan against the younger man’s chest, as Tino continued, picking up the pace from Mike, “We need- Oh God, Tino!- they’ll find us here soon, please.”

Tino gasped, his arousal had left several long, weeping trails down his stomach, and he’d been ready to come at the end of their practice and now it was just seeing Mike, perfect, controlled, icey-blue eyed Mike squirming beneath him, trying to find where he’d lost control.

“Please Tino,” Seeing the blonde living-David below him, squelching a whimper as Tino sunk down on him as hard as he dared, had Tino ready to come.

“It’s just like you said, Mike,” Tino pulled the other man close to him, as they rocked together toward a release, “it’s about finding out how you move, moving with you – oh God!”

Tino couldn’t continue as Mike brought him down hard on his arousal and he felt all of his control slipping away, Mike pressing their lips together in a bruising kiss to capture their cries of release. As Tino shook, clinging to the older man, his arousal slick over their stomachs, he felt Mike’s release coursing through him.

Mike pulled him close in a grip that he couldn’t have escaped if he’d like, and Tino had no desire to ever escape.

“It’s finding your heartbeat and getting it to beat in time with someone else,” Mike finished the words he’d spoken when they’d met, “knowing the other person so well that they are part of you and you part of them.”

Tino and Mike slipped on their covering but before Mike unfastened the latch he kissed Tino one more time, “When your hearts beat together like that, it’s pure perfection.”

Tino smiled, stealing another kiss as they slipped out the door.

“Pure perfection, huh? Truth in advertising but kind of swell-headed. We probably should just stick with Ribble and Orsini on the bill.”

Tino couldn’t resist the joke, especially not when it earned him that smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always treasured! No idea where this movie has been all my life but WOW! And now that a certain acrobat-turned-actor is the center of my thoughts expect a few more of these to follow. I'll try to draw the line at Crimson Pirate fics but I make no promises! ^_^


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